Etymology: < Old English bæddel hermaphrodite, effeminate or homosexual man (quantity of stem vowel uncertain; see further bad adj., n.², and adv.) + -ing suffix³. In later use apparently reanalysed as showing (or perhaps independently < ) bad adj. and -ling suffix¹.

Etymology: In α. forms apparently < paddle v.¹ (although this is first attested earlier) + -ing suffix¹. The β. forms probably show either a variant for the α. forms, or perhaps simply an error, subsequently taken up by other writers. However, another text in the same textual tradition as the Middle English examples below reads bablyng (perhaps compare babble v.¹ 1b).With the β. forms perhaps compare also the following:1603 P. Holland tr. Plutarch Morals 344 Dolphins..strive to be doussing, badling, and diving together with them.